Improvement in railway-car couplings



UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE.

GEORGE H. MERRIAM, OF PORTLAND, MAINE, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND OY- RUS S. CLARK, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN RAILWAY-CAR COUPLINGS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 117,909, dated August 8, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. MERRIAM, of the city of Portland, in the county of Cumberland and State of Maine, have invented a new and useful Gar-Coupling; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section, and Fig. 2 a front view.

The same parts are designated by the same letters.

This invention relates to that class of automatic car-couplings in which the coupling-link or bar, as it enters the draw-head, strikes an incline attached to the coupling-pin, thereby raising the latter until the end of the link passes, when the pin drops into place again, coupling the cars together and my improvement consists in the con struction of the draw-head, which permits the pin to swing back when the link strikes the inclined arm, thereby causing the arm to raise the pin by direct longitudinal draft, rather than by an oblique upward pressure against it.

In the drawing, A is the draw-bar; B, the drawhead; G,the coupling-pin 5 D, a slotted arm, pivoted at its upper end in a slot in the upper part of the draw-head, and articulated at its lower end to the pin (J, as shown. The draw-head is so constructed that, when the cars come together and couple themselves, the lower end of the pin is free to swing back in the arc of a circle; but its movement is so controlled by the arm D, pivoted at some distance in front of it, that the circle is one having its center at the pivot E of the arm, so that, as the pin swings back, a longitudinal draft is brought upon the arm, and that draft, together with the-pushing of the entering-link, raises the pin to the position shown by the dotted lines, Fig. 1, after which the pin drops back within the link, and thus couples the latter to the car. The end of the pin may project down through the drawhead, if preferred, in which case the hole through the lower plate will be made oblong to allow the pin to swing back. The metal of the upper plate is, of course, recessed at the rear of the upper hole to allow the pin to swing. This pin-hole is nearly or quite round at its upper end, but oblong at its lower end, so that the head of the bolt is retained in one position, while the point is free to swing backward, as described. The advantage of constructing the pin to swing back as it rises, instead of moving upward in a vertical line, is as follows: If it rose in a vertical line the whole force of the entering-link would be thrown against the under side of the arm D, which, by the oblique pressure thus exerted upon it, would be forced upward, carrying with it the bolt 0, but the latter, in rising vertically, would necessarily slide the arm D upward and backward against the very force that was moving it in other words, the forward movement of the link would be so applied to the arm D as to force the latter backward against the link itself, and the enormous loss of power resulting therefrom would render it necessary to make the arm D so large and heavy as to render the whole device impracticable and useless. By constructing the draw-head so that the pin can swing back when the link enters all this is obviated. Very little oblique pressure is exerted upon the arm, its draft upon the pin being mainly longitudinal, and a stout wire would answer the purpose of an arm, even in a practical working drawhead.

In addition to this improvement in the construction and operation of the several parts above described, there are others that may be enumerated which greatly increase the efiiciency of the coupling. The draw-head is so constructed that the draft is directly central in line with its longer axis. The throat is a fiat oblong opening, of sufficient vertical dimensions to admit the link, but no more, and the link is guided into it by means of a long inclined under lip, which allows cars varying eight or ten inches in height to couple readily together without the necessity of the attendants going between them to guide the links into place. The bar D rises into a slot in the upper part of the draw-head, so as to be entirely out of the way of the link as the latter is entering the throat. I construct the pin-holes, also, in such a manner as to cause the pin 0 to bear upon its cheeks, and not upon the central line of its face, by which means the pin is enabled to endure greater pressure without crushing, the resultant of the forces applied to its face being toward and not from its center, and tending to compress rather than to burst asunder the metal. This is accomplished by cutting away the metal a little in front of the central line of the pin, thus making a vertical slot which opens backward into the pin-hole. The slot made in the lower jaw to aceonnnodate the lower end of the arm D answers In combination with the arm D and the coupthe purpose there. This slot is made narrow, so ling-pin G, the draw-head, constructed as herein that the pin bears on each side of it against the described, whereby the pin is allowed to swing solid metal of the draw-head, which thus sustains back as it rises, substantially as and for the purthe entire draft of the train without any assistposes set forth.

ance from the inclined arm D,the function of the GEO. H. MERRIAM. latter being simply to raise the pin as it swings back, in the manner hereinabove described. Witnesses:

Having thus described my invention, what I WM. FRANKLIN SEAVEY, claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Let- GEORGE E. BIRD.

ters Patent, is as follows: 

